Field of the Disclosure
Examples of the present disclosure are related to systems and methods for irrigation systems. More particularly, embodiments relate to a drip mesh irrigation system having uniform wetting patterns.
Background
Conventional drip irrigation systems connect to a source of water, and distribute a controlled quantity of the water through a distribution line. A conventional drip irrigation system has multiple distribution lines, wherein each distribution line distributes water to different plant species through drip emitters.
Typically, distribution lines are linear tubes, with inlets and a plurality of drip emitters. Conventionally, the distribution lines are laid out in a parallel manner, wherein each distribution line is parallel to every other distribution line. The drip emitters are positioned at predetermined intervals along the distribution line.
However, the parallel layout of distribution lines within conventional drip irrigation systems does not create uniform wetting patterns. This may be caused by the overlapping or lack of overlapping of certain wetting patterns due to the non-uniform distribution of water from a plurality of drip emitters unequally spaced. Furthermore, the non-uniform wetting patterns may be caused by human error and the inability of an installer to correctly align the drip lines and plants in a uniform fashion. Accordingly, plants positioned in different locations may receive more or less water than other plants. When the plants' center spacing dimension is less than the drip emitter spacing, the plants closest to the drip emitters may get sufficient water for establishment and sustainability, while the plants furthest from drip emitters weaken. This may give rise to disease and pests, or even death of the plants from lack of sufficient water to maintain vigor due to the interference of water by adjacent plants closer to the drip emitters.
In conventional drip irrigation methods, drier areas are sometimes created from uneven distribution of drip emitters in an irrigated area. When drier areas are created, the irrigation zone run time may need to be increased beyond the water requirements of a proportion of the plant material within the irrigated planting area in order to get sufficient water to those drier areas through percolation. This over saturation to a proportion of the irrigated area can give rise to fungus, pests, and even suffocation of plant material from lack of available oxygen in soil. Thus, the uneven distribution of water in conventional drip irrigation layouts causes fluctuations in plant performance within a drip irrigated area. Furthermore, the task to correctly align the placement of plants with drip emitters is an arduous task, which can be very time consuming. Thus, current drip irrigation systems are inefficient systems to provide water and other nutrients to plants.
In addition to poor distribution of precipitation, lack of a filter at drip emitters gives rise to soil and root intrusion, which causes the drip emitter and sometimes even the drip tubing to fail. This intrusion causes the distribution lines and emitters to clog. Soil intrusion occurs when soil particles, such as sand, silt, or clay move in to the drip line via the drip emitter openings due to back pressure in the irrigation system, back siphonage in the irrigation system, and soil movement through compaction and settling. Root intrusion occurs when actively growing root cells spread into a drip emitter. Both soil and root intrusion can clog the drip emitter and the drip tubing.
Traditional drip distribution lines have a low resilience to cuts, abrasion, and pinching. This low resilience makes drip lines vulnerable to failure due from the absence of a protective, reinforcing shell or barrier that could increase the abrasion resistance and rigidness of the drip tubing.
Accordingly, needs exist for more effective and efficient systems and methods for drip irrigation systems with triangulated drip emitters with a soil/root filter fabric barrier, wherein the triangulated drip emitters are configured to uniformly distribute wetting patterns to more precisely achieve a uniform saturation of soil and reduce water waste, while preventing soil and/or root intrusion, cuts, abrasion, pinching, thus prolonging the life of the distribution lines.